The government has approved about Bt7 billion for the Industry Ministry and the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion for fiscal 2007.

Deputy Industry Minister Piyabutr Cholvijarn said most of the budget would be spent on boosting competitiveness among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and managing natural resources and the environment.

It has drawn up six strategic themes for the new fiscal budget:

l It will assign the Industrial Economics Office for all productivity projects.

l It will cooperate with the Science and Technology Ministry in encouraging intellectual property in the industrial sector.

l After it has joined the Federation of Thai Industries to improve competitiveness in the rubber and printing industries this year, it plans to increase other industries' competitiveness, especially those of SMEs, concentrating on urging operators to retrofit their machines rather than buying new ones, in order to reduce the country's machine-import bill.

l The ministry will speed up creating awareness among operators nationwide about new standards.

l It will focus on control plants in the industrial sector and promote industrial operators to create environmentally friendly production systems.

Piyabutr said all strategies would force industrial operators to adapt themselves and boost their ability to compete with other countries, particularly China and India.

Moreover, the Industry Ministry is considering granting incentives for operators who agree to reveal information about pollution emission and allow authorities to check their plants anytime.

The Thai government is presently considering the spending budget for fiscal 2008.

Last weekend, it had a 10-hour discussion on the issue. While government agencies proposed a total spending plan of Bt2 trillion, the government is expected to spend only Bt1.63 trillion, an increase of 4.4 per cent from this year. Government agencies have been told to prioritise their spending plans and cut unnecessary projects.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation